Housing discrimination exists on Kaua‘i

LIHU‘E — Housing discrimination exists on Kaua‘i, and the best way to avoid it is to know applicable laws, experts said at a fair-housing workshop said Friday.

Discrimination in house-hunting affects all parties involved, federal and county officials said.

It can lead to pain, loss of opportunities, hefty fines and lawsuits. The best way to avoid the consequences is to know the law, a federal fair-housing expert said.

“Ignorance isn’t an excuse,” said Jelani Mandaraka, civil rights analyst with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Each April, all county housing agencies in Hawai‘i organize fair-housing workshops, said Fay Rapozo, loan officer at the Kaua‘i County Housing Agency.

Friday was Kaua‘i’s turn to host the day-long workshop, attracting more than 40 people, most of them property owners and managers, but also a few renters seeking to learn more about their rights.

“We still need training. Everybody still has problems about discrimination,” said Rapozo. “Ongoing training is important so that we can further fair housing and try to one day eliminate discrimination,” Rapozo said.

Leba Kaufmann, fair-housing supervisor at the Legal Aid Society of Hawai‘i, said they have two staff members in charge of looking for discriminatory advertising. “We’re finding it everyday.”

“Why put yourselves at that potential liability?” Kaufmann asked. “We are looking at those ads. We have a bunch that we can file because they are facially discriminatory.”

Fair-housing laws started almost a century and a half ago. When slaves were granted freedom at the outcome of the Civil War, President Andrew Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, prohibiting racial discrimination in real and personal property transactions.

The Federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 and the Amendments Act of 1988 have broadened fair-housing laws.

Federal laws protect tenants and prospective buyers on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability and familial status, said Carolyn Vierra, investigator supervisor at the Hawai‘i Civil Rights Commission.

‘Federally-protected classes’

“These federally-protected classes are also covered under the state law,” said Vierra, adding that Hawai‘i has additional protected classes, including marital status, sexual orientation, HIV infection, age, ancestry and gender identity or expression.

To file a discrimination complaint, a person must be a member of one of the protected classes aforementioned, and the discrimination must have occurred because of that “membership,” Vierra said.

Hawai‘i fair-housing laws prohibit property owners or managers and real-estate agents from refusing to rent or sell housing to members of the protected classes.

This includes setting different terms, conditions or privileges; falsely denying availability; providing different services; threatening, intimidating and interfering with anyone exercising a fair-housing right; harassing a person belonging to one of the protected classes; and advertising or making statements showing preferences.

Demanding higher rent or deposit for different terms is prohibited if it affects people in the protected classes. Kaufmann said agents and owners have to very careful when making restrictions on families with children because it could fall into familial-status discrimination.

Vierra said conditions such as prohibiting children from riding bikes or using the pool and other amenities are seen as discriminatory. Denying rentals to families with children because of liability issues is also prohibited, and those issues could include use of a lanai or even climbing trees.

People using HUD assistance (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development rental-assistance and other federal housing programs) are not protected by law as a protected class, Mandaraka said.

Advertising scrutinized

But to advertise against people using HUD benefits could indicate a preference, opening the door to different interpretations that could lead to a complaint or a lawsuit, Mandaraka said.

“Last year we had over 20 complaints just on advertisements alone,” Mandaraka said.

Mandaraka gave an example where one landlord was looking for an able-bodied person, and a disabled citizen filed a complaint for feeling left out.

“In the ad you just want to make a simple statement about what it is that you have for rent. Once you start putting language in there that indicates a preference towards who may rent there then you open yourself to unnecessary problems,” Mandaraka said.

The main argument when dealing with advertising that Mandaraka and Kaufmann wanted to stress is that ads should deal with property description rather than potential renters. The same goes for ads related to potential buyers.

Steering is also considered illegal by state law, and according to Vierra it is defined as: “The practice of directing persons who seek to enter into a real-estate transaction toward or away from real property in order to deprive them of the benefits of living in a discrimination-free environment.”

In other words, real-estate agents cannot advise potential buyers about race, religious or ethnic composition of certain neighborhoods.

In case there’s a suspicion of discrimination, the Legal Aid office can sends testers, and hire people of different races, ethnicity or religion to pose as potential renters, to find out whether the landlord is practicing discrimination, Kaufmann said.

Rapozo said she often calls Legal Aid to request testers on Kaua‘i.

Discrimination against the disabled

A common complaint involves people with disabilities.

Vierra said if a disabled person asks for reasonable changes in the house, and offers to pay for those changes, the landlord may have to accept it. In that case the tenant will have to revert the house back to its original state upon termination of the contract. An extra deposit or an escrow account can be set up to guarantee that the reversal will be made.

The changes to accommodate people with disabilities may include installing wheelchair ramps and grab bars, widening doors and others.

In places where pets are not allowed, people with service animals cannot be denied rental because those animals are not considered pets, said Vierra, adding that in the past the law required those animals were certified, but now all they need is training.

Kaufmann said those animals can do many things. Some are used for alerting upcoming seizures, others for companionship, for guiding the blind, and some can even dial 911.

Some attendees said some home-owner-insurance policies exclude certain breeds, usually German shepherds, pit bulls and Rottweilers. Kaufmann said the first thing to do in that case is to open up a dialogue between landlord and tenant.

Free help available

Kaufmann said the Legal Aid Society offers free services. The nonprofit’s doors are always open, and if someone has questions about what the law, they should call Legal Aid.

If a person feels being discriminated against, they could call any agency, but the first logical step would be to seek local advise at the County Housing Agency. Rapozo explained the proper course of actions in such a case.

“A complaint is lodged, and we recommend that they either put a complaint with Legal Aid Society, or Hawai‘i Civil Rights Commission or HUD directly. And then an investigation is done to check if there is in fact an actual violation,” Rapozo said.

“It could lead to lawsuits,” said Rapozo, adding that one of the workshop attendees had been recently fined by HUD and ordered to attend the workshop. “Every time they find a person guilty, one of the requirements is that they continue the education.”

Rapozo said when people feel discriminated against, it makes them feel terrible.

“I try to call the party that’s causing the complaint to see if I can reason with them. If they feel like they haven’t done anything wrong, then I’m telling the complainer to go ahead and file a case,” Rapozo said.

“Once it leaves my office it becomes like a gag order. I don’t know what happens after that. Everything becomes confidential,” Rapozo said.

Kalaheo resident Melissa Right came to the workshop to learn a few things so she’s more informed next time she has to look for a house. She recently went on a house-hunt and was turned down twice before finding a place.

“They said they were looking for people with stable jobs,” the 23-year-old mother of two said.

When the requirements involve income, it is usually not seen as discrimination. On Right’s second try, however, she was told that they were looking for people with older children, which would probably qualify as discrimination.

Go to www.hud.gov or www.state.hi.us/hcrc for more information, or call Kaufmann at 1-808-527-8083, Mandaraka at 1-808-522-8182, ext. 269, Vierra at 1-808-586-8692, or Rapozo at 241-4433.